Ask the Car People.SM


Subaru Legacy/Outback Wagons Maintenance & Repair

8642 messages,  Last post on May 20, 2013 at 10:18 PM

You are in the Subaru Legacy & Outback Forum.

What is this discussion about? Subaru Legacy, Subaru Outback, Wagon

Messages Page 693 of 865

#6913 of 8642 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback.. New to me! by tedchorlyone

Apr 04, 2007 (4:33 pm)

I just bought a 1996 Subaru outback with 112k miles and a 2.5 liter engine. The front tires are Michelin, the rear tires are Goodyear. When I reverse the car while turning sharply I can hear the differential having trouble (in between the front and back of the car) and it's starts kicking a little bit as well until I straighten out the car. I assume it's because the tires are different, as I've heard that if they're even 1/4 inch off they wont' work with the AWD.
 
So... I tried to put in a 20v fuse in the FWD switch under the hood, and nothing happens. There is no FWD light on the instrument panel, and the same thing happens on sharp turns. What should I do? Is there something I missed in attempting to switch to front wheel drive? Should I worry about the seperate branded tires or just live with it? If I leave it will it mess up my transmission and rear differential?
 
HELP!
 
Also, I have a cylinder 4 misfire. Any thoughts on that?

#6914 of 8642 Re: 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback.. New to me! [tedchorlyone] by paisan

Apr 04, 2007 (6:34 pm)

Replying to: tedchorlyone (Apr 04, 2007 4:33 pm)
Is your car MT or AT The fuse only works if it's an AT. I would swap the tires for 4 new tires. Misfire could be wire, plug or possibly the direct fire box thing I forgot the name on top of the engine.
 
-mike

#6915 of 8642 02 Bean: brake issues by canyuntrash

Apr 04, 2007 (10:02 pm)

OK, not to beat a dead horse, but here I go again.
When I first bought the car, I had rotor warp(f and r)in about 5K. Dealer fixed (Turned) under warranty. This happened several times again, being fixed under warranty up until about 35K.
At one point, the (then) service mgr took me aside and said the rotors were defective, SOA knows, but little was being done. He then replaced the rears gratis.
But I still continued to have probs w/ fronts, until after a couple of posts here, a great gal from SOA NJ contacted me and put me in touch w/ West Coast rep (young guy, can't remember his name) who test drove car and agreed rotors were warped and offered to replace gratis if I picked up labor. I agreed, then asked tech at dealer about the P/N and he suggested that the new suffix meant a new type of rotor.
Well, these worked great, until I replaced the stock pads with a "hard" compound at indie shop, which scored the rotors and made 'em squeal. So back to dealer; he tells me rotors n/g, replaced them and pads. Took old ones home, miked 'em, 'n lo n' beholed, still good to grind. Stash for later use. BUT, new rotors developed warp; so back to dealer, he turns and replaces pads again. Now after about 6K, rotors warped again.
Whiskey TangoFox, I say... WTF???
I'm thinking somewhere there was an old style pair of rotors that made it to my car...

#6916 of 8642 Re: 02 Bean: brake issues [canyuntrash] by paisan

Apr 05, 2007 (4:37 am)

Replying to: canyuntrash (Apr 04, 2007 10:02 pm)
I've installed a lot of brakes on Subarus.(200-300) Guess what, I've never seen a set of warped rotors! Have I seen ones where there were pad deposits in the rotors and they acted like they were warped? Yup. But they were never actually warped. I would suggest a few things:
 
1) Take the rotors you have at home, go over them with a piece of sand paper to clear them up.
 
2) Get a set of good ceramic pads such as Akebono Pro Act pads
 
3) Put the Akebonos on with the rotors you have off the car
 
This should be good for now, then take the other rotors that are on the car off and sandpaper them and stash for later.
 
Rotors on these cars usually last 50-70k miles, pads about 20-35k depending on driving style.
 
-mike

#6917 of 8642 Re: 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback.. New to me! [tedchorlyone] by ateixeira

Apr 05, 2007 (7:16 am)

Replying to: tedchorlyone (Apr 04, 2007 4:33 pm)
First and foremost, get matching tires.
 
If either pair is new enough, buy 2 new ones to match and be done with it. It was a mistake to replace only 2 tires, no doubt. The AWD is full-time so it is constantly wrestling with the tires trying to engage when it shouldn't.
 
Change them ASAP.
 
Misfire - do you have a code? At 112k miles, it could be any of several wear and tear items. Start with the spark plug and don't forget the wires, too. The fuel filter, PCV valve, air filter, next. Finally, if you still get a Check-Engine Light, swap out the ignition coil. Sounds hard but it's very easy, and it's only $80 for the OE part. There's only one, too.
 
You're close enough to 120k miles that I would just do the 120k mile service early, and that involves changing all the things I mentioned anyway.
 
Cheers.

#6918 of 8642 Re: 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback.. New to me! [ateixeira] by tedchorlyone

Apr 05, 2007 (8:30 am)

Replying to: ateixeira (Apr 05, 2007 7:16 am)
Thanks, I'm getting the tires replaced with 4 matching ones today, and this weekend I'm going to venture towards taking out the coolant reservoir and battery to take a look at the spark plugs.
 
Right now I'm pretty upset that after all the talk by the auto dealer I got this from about how his technicians wouldn't have overlooked anything in getting this car ready for sale the car can't even run safely on the tires it came with. And I'm suspecting that they just slapped on some cheap autolite spark plugs, too, instead of NGKs. The code was 0304 (I forget the first two letters, but it was a cylinder 4 misfire...) I also heard it could be a problem with cylinder 2 manifesting itself in a misfire of 4, but I'll save those unusual scenarios for after the swapping of the new spark plugs and wires..

#6919 of 8642 Re: 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback.. New to me! [tedchorlyone] by ateixeira

Apr 05, 2007 (8:45 am)

Replying to: tedchorlyone (Apr 05, 2007 8:30 am)
I had a misfire and it turned out to be that a chipmunk had chewed up my spark plug wires.
 
Seriously, I see them under my hood to this day. Not sure why they love Subaru wires, do they baste them in au jus at the factory?
 
 
 
I'll stick with my recommendation to change the wires, plugs, and then maybe the ignition coil if the light stays on.

#6920 of 8642 Re: 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback.. New to me! [ateixeira] by lilengineerboy

Apr 05, 2007 (9:11 am)

Replying to: ateixeira (Apr 05, 2007 8:45 am)
I was thinking about this and I have a pretty big aversion to replacing parts until I know what is wrong. You can ohm out the spark plug wires and there is a spec for the maximum resistance. You can also check the spark plug gap and check it for damage.
I would think there would be a factory procedure somewhere for testing the coil pack before just dropping $80.
Plugs and wires are great maintenance tasks and it may be due for them anyway, but now you are talking about $30 for plugs, $40-50 for wires, and $80 for the coil pack. Thats $160.
I realize when doing backyard stuff, some of the money that would've been spent diagnosing the issue is spent on replacing probable suspects, but its still good to test what is testable, IMHO.

#6921 of 8642 Re: 02 Bean: brake issues [paisan] by canyuntrash

Apr 05, 2007 (9:40 am)

Replying to: paisan (Apr 05, 2007 4:37 am)
Thanks for the input, I'll give that a try. Will also check existing rotors for true.
 
But in a previous post, I believe it was you that mentioned something about "mountain rotors"; what are they? Aftermarket?
 
BTW, Mike, where does one look for P/N's on rotors?
 
Grazi

#6922 of 8642 Re: 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback.. New to me! [lilengineerboy] by paisan

Apr 05, 2007 (10:10 am)

Replying to: lilengineerboy (Apr 05, 2007 9:11 am)
On plugs, why after all the effort to take them out would you not replace them? $30 for 4 plugs? what kind of plugs are you using? I think the NGKs are way less than $30 for these cars. I dunno, I guess I'm looking at $160 as being easy, cheap and will help the car run better in the long run, unless you have just done them.
 
-mike

Messages Page 693 of 865

To POST a message, please Sign In.

Advertisement

Browse by Category

Browse by Vehicle
   View All Vehicles

Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
View All Topics

Edmunds Community

Advertisement